Whitehouse man dies in Iowa plane crash

BOONE, Iowa (WUPW) - A 24-year-old Whitehouse, Ohio, man died Thursday after his plane crashed in a central Iowa cornfield, law enforcement said.

Adam Danhauer was flying a single-engine Cessna, pulling a banner when the plane went down near Boone, Iowa at around 9:20 a.m. CDT.

Mr. Danhauer would have turned 25 next week, family members said. He graduated from Anthony Wayne High School and Bowling Green State University.

Family members told FOX Toledo News that the family is in shock and are grief-stricken.

Boone County, Iowa, Sheriff Ron Fehr said on Friday that Mr. Danhauer died when the plane crashed into a corn field. He was the only one on the plane. No one on the ground was hurt.

The plane was being used to advertise for a seed corn company at the Farm Progress Show. Witnesses  say the plane was having trouble pulling the banner when it crashed into a field.

The crash happened Thursday morning minutes after the plane took off from the nearby Boone airport.

According to witnesses, the Cessna was carrying a large AgriGold banner over the farm show the past week. The plane caught show attendants attention because of the larger than normal banner on the small single-engine aircraft.

"I always thought it was pretty big flag for such a small plane," one witness who attended the farm show told KDSM FOX 17 Des Moines. "The banner was two or three times the size of the plane."

After the crash, Sheriff Fehr said witnesses told him the plane was having problems gaining altitude and the banner was "flipping while he was flying." The banner ended up several hundred feet north of the crash site.

The National Transportation Safety board is investigating the crash.

Mr. Danhauer was working for Air America Aerial Ads out of Genoa, Ohio.

FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory says the Cessna 150 crashed about two miles north of Boone Thursday morning. She says the plane is registered to Drake Aerial Enterprise in Genoa, Ohio. There is no telephone listing for the company.

Air America Aerial Ads, of Genoa, is also listed on the FAA Registry. A person who answered the phone at the business declined to comment.

Mr. Danhauer, who will be missed by many friends and family, left a nugget of wisdom on his Facebook page.

"If there is something you want to achieve or someone to meet don't wait, take a chance and cherish it," he posted.
 

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FOX Toledo News reporter Kristi Leigh, The Associated Press and KDSM FOX 17 in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.